Tears of the Phoenix
by smudgethat
Summary: Jasper, Alice and Emmett are a hit squad for the Empire verus the Alliance. AH/AU and kinda OCC.
1. Chapter 1 Old Friends

Tears of the Phoenix.

Chapter one: Old Friends

The woman depressed a button on the hilt of her custom built knife and the knife powered up, the engraved phoenix on the blade glowed a brilliant orange as if it was on fire, she stabbed the knife into the man's stomach and he instantly immolated. Retrieving her other knife from the floor and sheathing it she took in her surroundings; it was the office of a high ranking alliance office, the pile of dust at her feet the only evidence that he ever existed, the room was sparsely furnished for its size, two chairs sat against one wall under a huge flay, it was the lion and eagle flag of the alliance, on the opposite wall was a map of the world, clearly showing the countries which the Alliance owned, and the countries that the Empire had taken, the solid oak desk was at the top end of the room, the huge window behind it watching over it, the desk had a computer and a name plaque on it. "Gen. Mark Henderson". The woman walked completely silently over to the computer to check it for useful information. But all of the files were encrypted and, regrettably, she didn't have time to break it, she could tell that much from the noise outside.

As hard as he tried Jasper just couldn't stay silent and he'd been spotted by a guard on patrol, the guard radioed for reinforcements and lunged at Jasper with his sword, but he had overextended his clumsy strike and Jasper had dodged to the side and brought his katana down hard on the man's extended torso, the blade cut straight through his entire body and chopped the man clean in two, blood started to pool around Jasper's booted feet

"Alice lets get the hell out of here now!" he shouted down the hall.

"Yes, sir!" The sarcastic reply came back through Jasper's ear piece just as the doors at the end of the corridor flew open and Alice came out, deactivating and sheathing her blade as she ran.

"Done?" asked Jasper.

"Done." replied Alice.

"Then lets go before this corridor fills with pissed off guardsmen, shall we?"

Alice looked quizzically at Jasper and he knew why, they both knew that between them they could easily take a corridor full of guards, but Jasper had been told by his master, the Daimyo of the mighty Volturi clan not to kill _too_ many people as it was far more physiologically damaging that way.

"What the hell are you two doing in there? Will you stop killing things already and get your arses out here!" Emmett's voice came clearly over the comms earpieces' that all elite forces wore.

"Relax brother, we're coming." Jasper called back as he put a boot into the door and ran through it with Alice hot on his heels, they found themselves in a dark stairwell.

"Up?" asked Jasper.

"Up. Fast." replied Alice.

Angry voices came up from lower down on the stairs "Their up there, floor fire, more, now!" the voice came from an alliance officer, Sergeant Tyler Crowley, a hardened, gung-ho, war veteran with a specific hate for the Empire forces and all who supported their cause after his entire platoon was wiped out by an Empire hit squad at the beginning of the war. Alice and Jasper started to run up the steps, rearing matt black rope as they went.

The door to the stairwell flew open, narrowly missing a sentry posted on the roof, the two assassins ran to the edge of the roof, Alice's blade flashed as she passed the dazed sentry and he dropped to the floor clutching his slashed throat and gurgling cries for help. Jasper could see Emmett, his sworn brother, at the bottom of the seven storey building; he secured his rope to one of the many stone eagles lining the roof and started to abseil down to Emmett. Alice followed closely behind.

Emmett could see them coming down the side of the building they were nearly at the bottom when the door flew open and an alliance officer stepped out, closely followed by a dozen or so guards, all had blades drawn. The group stopped five metres form Emmett and the officer pointed his sword at him and said darkly "Crush that worm."

As the guards started to run at him Emmett shook his head and said to himself "Foolish man," Emmett drew the two ornate blades he kept on his back and met the enemy's charge with a flurry of blow that decapitated the first man, gutted the second and impaled a third on both blades.

A guardsman was about to strike at Emmett but he toppled over and lay on the floor convulsing, he could see the dart in the back of the man's neck; Emmett smiled at the arrival of Alice. Jasper had sent Alice to help Emmett; he was going after the officer. Jasper walked towards the officer, his katana drawn ready, and addressed the man "You, why do you stand and watch while your men die in front of you!"

The man turned to face the angry warrior "Actually, I was waiting for you." The officer smiled at Jasper and levelled his small officer's energy pistol at Jasper's head, but before the man could fire, Jasper had covered the remaining distance and clove the gun in two.

"Guess we do this the hold fashioned way." The officer shrugged as he threw what was left of his gun aside.

"Oh, wouldn't want you to fight with honour, scum!" Jasper spat back sarcastically and swung for the man's head but he quickly parried and struck an answering blow at Jasper's torso that he managed to avoid.

"Unfortunately for you, I can use a blade when it is called for." The man said as he feinted left.

Emmett's voice came over the comm. link "We're all done here; whenever you're ready we'll go Chief." Jasper could hear the transport bike's engine revving behind him, he put all of his effort into one last swing at the officer's neck, the man's head from his shoulders, Jasper laughed as art of the man's collar fluttered to the floor.

"You have guns, we have folded steel. Luckily for orders were minimal kills so, until we meet again, goodbye Sergeant Crowley." Jasper smiled darkly at the surprised man and ran through the blood and corpses that Emmett and Alice had left, he vaulted onto the back of the bike and Emmett gunned the engine, speeding out of the gates in a cloud of dust.

Emmett pulled up to the massive steel gates of the Empire castle, he took of his mouth guard and shout u to the gatekeeper. "Hey Charlie, let us in!" a head appeared over the edge of the battlements.

"Not without clearance!" the reply came back with mock formality and a small chuckle.

"How about this for clearance?" The new speaker was Alice, who then threw General Henderson's dog tags up to Charlie.

"Impressive, a General, I suppose that'll do!" Charlie disappeared back over the wall and shortly afterwards the gates swung open. Emmett pulled into the gatehouse and parked the bike, as the three of them got off of the walls; he tossed the dog tags back to Alice who caught them without looking.

"How are you doing Old Friends?" Charlie said as he slapped Emmett on the back and gripped Jasper's gauntleted hand.

"Speaking of old friends, we met one of your Charlie, Sergeant Crowley." Benny looked surprised as Jasper spoke, though he didn't look it the old man used to be an elite like Jasper and his team, he had met with Sergeant Crowley on several occasions all of which had resulted in little more than a stalemate, it was actually Crowley that gave Charlie his limp and in return Charlie gave him a nasty scar across his face.

"What happened?" Charlie asked worriedly.

"Calm down Charlie, why don't we go upstairs and I'll tell you over a strong drink." Jasper suggested.

Charlie smiled broadly "That sounds good."


	2. Chapter 2 A Homecoming

Chapter Two: A Homecoming.

The bunk room smelled fresh, mountain dew glistening on the grass outside like millions of tiny diamonds. Alice woke to the sound of somebody training down the corridor in the Dojo, she got up and pulled on a long black dress over her lithe body, as she was walking out she noticed Jasper asleep on his bunk, he and Charlie had been up all night drinking and talking, Alice just shook her head and walked out.

As she was walking down the corridor Alice passed several more bunk rooms, the rec room and the mess hall. They were all empty.

"Looks like they left us alone again." Alice was quietly glad of being left alone, she hated these frontline troops they were always so loud and unruly. Alice could see the door of the Dojo; she could see Emmett inside, hitting practise targets with a pair of wooden swords. She crept into the room as far as she could then she pulled out a small black, metal shuriken shaped like a Phoenix, she was about ten metres away when she let the Phoenix fly, jumping up to the rafters at the same time.

Emmett was in mid-swing when a small black object pinned his sword to the target with a solid thud, he knew who it was, only one person used shurikens, Alice; Emmett scanned the room for the assassin but he couldn't see her, he turned, checking the rafters, he turned back.

Emmett woke up a few minutes later with a dull ache in the left side of his head and he was drenched, he rolled over and saw Alice standing over him with an empty bucket.

"Sorry."

"Would that be for drenching me, or laying me out?"

"That would be for drenching you; it's your own fault that you got knocked out." Alice offered him a hand.

"Sorry."

"What for?" asked Alice, puzzled.

"This." Replied Emmett as he grabbed her hand and threw her over his shoulder, she landed a few metres back and rolled back onto her feet, Emmett was standing now, laughing.

"Emmett!" Alice shouted.

"Wha…," There was a meaty smack as a practice helmet hit him hard in the stomach, winding him. "Right, that's it, Alice." Emmett panted, retrieving his practice sword from the floor.

"Oh it's like that is it." Alice replied as she grabbed a naginata from the wall rack. The pair strode into the middle of the room and eyed each other up, Alice noticed they way Emmett looked under confident with only one weapon, but still dangerous. Emmett noted the way Alice was overweighed by the huge pole arm, being accustomed to the smaller knives she usually fought with.

The first blow came from Alice, her body movements telling Emmett the blow was coming several seconds early, he stepped aside of the clumsy blow and hit Alice across the back with the flat of his sword; he didn't see the next move however as the pole swung round and swept his legs out from under him, he rolled to the side as Alice's pole came down hard and cracked off the floor where he had been lying.

Jasper was woken by a huge banging, he had been up too late the night before, he stumbled over to the medicine cabinet on the wall near the door, he was still weaning his boots and leather trousers from the night before, Jasper took a bottle of hangover pills from the small box and downed a few. After a few seconds Kasper's head was still banging he thought it was odd as those hangover tablets usually worked instantly, then it hit him, what he could hear was a fight from down the corridor. Jasper pulled on a shirt and walked towards the noise, he went into the room where Emmett and Alice where fighting and stood at the back, out of sigh, watching. Jasper could see that Alice was vastly outmatched with her current weapon, a huge naginata, but as he watched, Emmett threw a massive side kick and Alice blocked it with the shaft of her weapon, smashing it in two creating two smaller sticks. Alice smashed the blade off the end of one of the sticks, lightening it considerably; she left the pole in her left hand drop slightly and held it so it ran up the length of her arm. Jasper watched and smiled as the tables turned so suddenly.

_This should be good,_ he thought to himself.

Alice, now with weapons she could use, set Emmett with a solid stare like a hunter targeting its prey, before Emmett could move Alice hit him hard in the knee so he dropped to the floor, then she hit him in the stomach so he doubled up and to finish him off she flicked her left wrist back bringing the other stick round to hit him in the face leaving him lying on his back looking up at her.

"Yield?" She smiled.

"Yield." He groaned back.

Alice left the Dojo, leaving Emmett recovering in the middle of the scratched and dented floor, and entered a small room off to one side. The room was dark, lit only by flickering candles, and smelled strongly of incense which made Alice's head swim.

"Good fight." Jasper's voice pierced the silence and made Alice start, she turned to see Jasper sitting in the corner, just in the shadow polishing his katana, she had always admired that blade, the gold dragon on the hilt with inlaid rubies for eyes looked right at you when he saluted with it, the grip was bound with gold thread and the scabbard had intricate gold patterns running down it right to the gold end cap, which was inlaid with a solid polished obsidian stone in the shape of the seal of his lord, Aro Volturi.

"Hello." Jasper was looking at her like she was a child, she was about to ask why when she realised she had been staring at his sword for a while, she shook herself awake.

"I didn't hear you come in." Alice recovered, sitting down opposite Jasper.

"Not surprising really, the way you were fighting just now." Jasper had returned his attention to polishing.

"What happened to Charlie last night when you left?"

"Oh, last I saw he was asleep on a table."

"At home?"

"No, in the garden."

"What? You didn't let him stay out there all night!" Alice was surprised, Jasper just looked at her, shrugged then smiled. "You men, where would you be without me?" Jasper looked at her with raised eyebrows and looked like he was going to answer when Alice butted in "That was a rhetorical question." Alice got up to leave.

"Where are you going?" Jasper asked as he got up, sheathing his sword.

"To find Charlie." Alice sighed as she left.

Jasper saw Emmett sitting in a big padded chair in the rec room, his head leant back and his eyes closed, he had ice on his face where Alice had hit him.

"You fought well brother."

Emmett looked Jasper in the face.

"My arse!"

"Hey, you did….until she kicked your arse." Jasper laughed back.

"Whatever." Emmett sighed, leaning back in his chair and rearranging the ice on his head. There was a long silence as the two thought, a runner came to the door and handed a sheet of paper to Jasper, saluting as he did so. Jasper read the message.

"You might want to get some cleaners in the Dojo," He told the messenger as he read. Jasper handed the sheet of paper back to the messenger and turned to Emmett "All three of us are to report to the Operations Centre as soon as possible."

"What for?"

"Didn't say, just report ASAP," Jasper went to leave "Come on, we have to find Alice." Emmett groaned and got up. The pair left the room, Emmett limping on his bruised knee, and the messenger ran the other way to inspect the dojo and fetch a cleaner.

Alice walked into the garden "Charlie?" she could see someone asleep across one of the tables. "Charlie!" she shouted at the person. Charlie rolled off the table and landed hard on the floor, he woke up like he had been slapped looking around wildly, then the hangover hit him and he groaned and lay back down.

"Charlie." He looked over and sat up when he saw Alice walking over.

"I don't suppose you've got any…." Charlie's voice trailed off as Alice reached down and took some hangover pills out of a pouch at her waist and threw them to Charlie "of those" Charlie said, surprised.

"What brings you out here?" Charlie asked after the pills had taken effect.

"As if you don't know Charlie." Alice replied. The pair was sat on either side of the table.

"The beautiful scenery?" Charlie answered gingerly, the reply made Alice laugh; he knew why she had come out to him, she was worried about him sleeping outside but really she knew he was perfectly safe inside the castle walls.

"Where's the garrison gone Charlie?"

"Half are in the temple and Skeleton Crew is up in operations."

"And the rest?"

"Up in the hills…running!" Charlie obviously enjoyed the fact that the regular garrison had to do training but as he was ex-elite forces, he didn't have to go.

Alice smiled. "Lucky them."

Jasper came running out to the garden where Alice was talking with Charlie, Emmett limping after him holding his head. Jasper was just about to talk when Alice butted in "What do you want now?" she said turning to face the new arrival and his wounded companion.

"Actually I came to tell you that a message came through, we're to report to operations."

"When?"

"Now."

"Now!" Alice exclaimed, standing up "What for?"

"Didn't say but it sounded urgent." Alice threw her arms up and sighed dramatically.

"Do they know what rest is?" Charlie butted in.

"Better go then if it was urgent." Emmett added.

Jasper nodded and started to walk off with Emmett. Alice looked at Charlie who was quite happy to sit there and relax while everybody else worked.

"I might be good, but I can't kill them all."

"Yeah, but you can try." Charlie replied with a manic smile. Alice just shook her head and ran after the retreating pair; Charlie sat back, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The operations centre was a large room at the top of the castle's keep, as the three elite soldiers approached the massive wooden double doors, two guards pushed them open, the huge symbol of the Volturi house splitting as the doors parted. Inside the Operations Centre they were met by Demetri Volturi, first son of, and heir to the current Daimyo of Volturi. After salutes had been exchanged Demetri led the trio into a private conference room off from the main control room.

"A few minutes ago we got a call from my honourable father, Aro Volturi," Demetri began "He didn't say what he wanted to speak about; only that he wanted to talk with you, as soon as possible."

"Well then, get us a link and we'll talk." Jasper replied sitting down at the massive mahogany table, Alice and Emmett following suit. Demetri disappeared into a small side room, he re-emerged a few minutes later as the end wall on the conference room opened up, revealing a large screen. The screen activated and there was some interference but then a man appeared, he was quite old but still had an air of power about him, and all four of them saluted and Jasper spoke.

"Lord, what is it you with to speak about?"

"Actually the matter of which I wish to speak is far too sensitive to be discussed over comms in case of eavesdroppers." Aro spoke slowly and with perfect formality "I am recalling you all to Japan; I need to speak with you all in person."

"As you wish Lord." Jasper replied.

"There is a transport on its way as we speak. Godspeed, out."

"Thank you Lord. Out." Jasper replied as the screen went blank and the wall closed back up leaving a map of Japan in the screen's place.

"Oh crap!" Emmett cursed and slumped down onto the table.

"I was enjoying this holiday." Jasper shook his head and laughed at the sight. Alice was glad to be going back to Japan, she enjoyed being in China but Japan was so much better, maybe she would get to see the giant towering walls of Edo Castle again, maybe.

"Better get ready then, the bid will be here soon." Jasper urged as he stood up, Alice got up with barely suppressed eagerness, Emmett just sat there, his head on the table, and groaned; Jasper clouted him as he walked past "Get up! Just because you got beaten up doesn't mean you get to stay here." Emmett groaned again and forced himself up. Demetri open the door to let them out and escorted them to the exit.

"I hope it all does well." Demetri told Jasper.

"Just hold this place tight." Jasper replied as he gripped the man's shoulder, and then he left.

There wasn't much time to get ready but then they didn't need to take a lot, just weapons and armour. There was just enough time to find Charlie and tell him where they were going, he had returned to the gate house but was still sleeping.

Just as Jasper returned to the landing pad the ships came down, it was a small black ship that looked like a thorn in the sky; it was designed not to show up on Alliance radar and was totally silent. The side door popped open and the pilot spoke over earpiece link "Board up." Alice didn't need to be told twice and she jumped onto the plane.

"What's her rush?" Emmett complained.

"Oh cheer up, will you and get on the plane." Jasper said as he stepped aboard, Emmett took one last look at the base before boarding the plane.

"Only three?" the pilot shouted back.

"Yeah, why?" Jasper asked.

"Well I was told by the boss to pick up his team, and standard minimum for a hit team is five. That's all."

"Well we're not standard. Now fly us home and stop asking stupid questions." Alice snapped back.

"Yes Ma'am. I meant no disrespect." Alice sighed and sat back in her seat as the aircraft lifted off, Emmett was asleep at the back of the craft, Alice shook her head and looked over at Jasper who was looking right back at her, and he just smiled and closed his eyes.

_Better try and get a nap myself, _She thought, and fell asleep.

Alice awoke to someone gently shaking her shoulder. "Alice," It was Jasper, "We're at Kai airfield." Alice got up quickly and noticed that Emmett wasn't there.

"He's outside radioing to the palace that we will be there shortly," Jasper said, noticing her looking. "They also dropped some thing off for us." Alice looked at him quizzically; she could hear a familiar sound coming from outside so she stepped out of the craft to look. Her heart leapt when she saw what it was.

"Shadow!" She shouted and ran to her horse, kissing its head.

"And I got a bloody kick in!" She hadn't noticed that she had run past Emmett who was packing up a radio set. Jasper got off of the plane and stepped over to his own steed, an enormous grey horse called 'Rolling Thunder.'

"If you're done then we'll go." Jasper told Emmett as he mounted his horse we're off, thanks for the lift." He told the pilot through his earpiece. Jasper and Alice were riding off slowly down the narrow street when Emmett finished stowing the radio in the plane.

"And where's my ride!" Emmett shouted as he turned round and saw his big black superbike, he wondered where his horse was but then realised he didn't care and vaulted onto the bike, revving it up, the back wheel span, kicking up smoke and grit, before the bike jerked off quickly.

Emmett soon caught up with his companions and slowed the machine down to a crawl. "Hey you guys, not that I'm extremely bothered… but where's my horse?" Emmet asked looking up at them both, Alice shrugged and looked over at Jasper who looked back at Emmett.

"How are we supposed to know?" The reply was full of sarcasm. Emmett just shrugged.

"Well it passed the time didn't it?"

"Yea, about five seconds of it." Alice answered as they turned left down a new street. The new street was considerably shorter than the last as it stopped and open out into a courtyard about three hundred metres in, the courtyard was a public garden, deserted at that time of night, it had a path running right up the middle with grass either side until it met with an ornamental pond and a willow tree, which it skirted around and ran right up to the castle.


	3. Chapter 3 Mysterious Circumstances

Happy Christmas or holidays... or whatever anybody is celebrating :)

I've spilt Chapter three into two sections.... just so it's easier to read tbh, the second half will be up within moments of the first thou tbh.

must say i rather love reviews... even if you wanna tell me the story sucks.

* * *

Chapter Three: Mysterious Circumstances.

The walls of Kaido Castle loomed over the trio, the huge wooden gate towering over them. Jasper dismounted and walked up to a control terminal in the wall next to the gates, he activated it and the Volturi symbol flashed onto the blue screen, he opened a comm. link to the gatehouse and a man's head appeared on the screen, he wasn't looking.

"Yes?" the man sighed, obviously bored.

"That would be 'yes sir', pay attention lad." Jasper replied calmly.

"Oh bugger. Err, sorry sir yes sir, what is it you want sir?" The man was very young, little more than a boy and obviously very intimidated by Jasper.

"Calm down, breathe. You're ok it's only me, just let me in ok." Jasper reassured the boy.

"Thank you sir." The boy replied with more confidence and the link deactivated, Jasper turned the console off and re-mounted. There was a loud bang as the gate was unbarred and then it slowly swung open, the boy saluted Jasper as he entered.

"That will be it lad. You can go now."

"Thank you sir." The boy turned to go but before he went up the stairs, he took a long look at Alice, she returned the stare and narrowed her eyes at him, and the boy ran up the stairs, spooked.

"Nice work girl!" Emmett said with a smile.

"Shut up Emmett." Alice replied, annoyed.

"Only saying," Emmett chuckled to himself. Having left Emmett's bike in the garage near the gatehouse the three of them started off towards the stables. "It is a mystery thought." Emmett was saying to himself.

"Emmett, the only big mystery around here is who dropped you on your head, Now will you shut up about your Emperor forsaken horse."

Alice was fed up with his constant moaning.

"Well the thing does belong to Emmett so anything is possible. It probably just couldn't be bothered to get up." Jasper commented as they walked, they could see the stable now; it was a modest little building specially designated for the horses of Lord Aro and his bodyguards.

"Oh thank God for that, maybe now we'll find out what actually happened to your horse." Alice said as she galloped ahead, Jasper not far behind.

"Well that's just blood marvellous isn't it!" Emmett shouted after the two clouds of dust as he started to jog after them.

By the time Emmett reached the stable he found Alice and Jasper standing near his horse with the stable master.

"So, what's up with her?" Emmett asked as he approached.

"Nothing. Other than being stubborn. She won't let anyone near her." The stable master replied. Emmett smiled and walked into his horse, jet black with a white 'scar' over it's left eye.

"You've got to have a way with animals" Emmett walked right up to the huge mare and stroked its head "See?"

"That's because it's probably his mother." Jasper whispered to Alice who laughed quietly "Now we know that your horse it as stubborn as you are Emmett, shall we go?" Emmett turned from his mount and walked past Jasper.

"Yes master." Emmett said sarcastically with an emphasised bow, Jasper and Alice shook their head and followed Emmett out.

Jasper approached a large building towards the back of the castle, Emmett and Alice close behind. Jasper walked up to the two large wooden doors and swept them open as he strode in, the doors banged as they hit the doorposts and the whole room fell silent. The room was a large, two-storey training dojo with around twenty people practicing inside, who all stopped to salute Jasper as he walked in

"Don't you just love home?" Jasper said, standing in the entrance to his dojo "carry on!" Jasper shouted "that goes for you too," He told his companions, Emmett ran off to beat a training target senseless. "Shall we?" Jasper asked Alice, gesturing towards his office.

"After you." Alice replied.

"But of course." They both laughed as they entered the small office. There wasn't much in Jasper's office, just a table and a couple of seats in the middle of the room and three cabinets along the back wall. Alice sat down as Jasper walked towards the middle cabinet "Whiskey?" he asked as he poured himself a drink.

"No. Thanks."

"Suit yourself." Jasper said as he walked over and sat with Alice. "I see it was busy while we were away." He said as he picked up a sheaf of papers from the table. Jasper was reading the papers while Alice sat quietly with her eyes closed. Somebody approached the door.

"Dunno about you guys, but I think we should send a runner to inform Lord Aro of our arrival." It was Emmett, he was now standing in the open doorway "What you reading?" he asked Jasper.

"Messages," the reply was blunt and he didn't even look up "five got sent to the front, we're getting some fresh recruits soon." Jasper had now put the papers down and was looking at Emmett "what was it you wanted?"

"He wants to send a runner to the palace." Alice replied.

"Oh, alright then, send Alec." Emmett turned to face the large room.

"Alec!" Emmett shouted "here now! Quickly lad!" a boy stood next to Emmett and Emmett told him something, the boy nodded and ran out of the door. "Well I'm knackered!" Emmett exclaimed, yawning extravagantly.

"Well I'm sure the rest of the Empire is better off for knowing that." said Alice, turning to face Emmett and opening one eye.

"I'm sure they are. I'm off to bed." Emmett walked off chuckling; Jasper and Alice looked at each other.

"What can you do?" Jasper said Alice just shrugged.

It was well into the night, all of Jasper's students had gone and the runner had said that Aro wanted to see them in the morning. Alice was still up with Jasper in his office.

"This does get boring doesn't it?" Alice's voice pierced the silence.

"Oh, I hadn't noticed." Replied Jasper with a smile.

"Let's fight a few bouts."

"Eh?"

"I said, get your arse up so I can kick it back down."

"Fine. Your loss." Grinned Jasper, rising. The pair walked out into the large sparing room, it was only poorly lit by the shrouded moon so only the centre of the room was lit. They disappeared for a moment into the armoury at the back and re-emerged with their weapons; Alice had two blunted Tantos and Jasper, a blunted Katana. The two of them stood eyeing each other up in the middle of the room, then they leapt at each other. Theo whole fight was a blur; Alice striking lightning blows at Jasper who struggled to parry them all, then Jasper would attack with slower, more powerful blows that Alice struggled to stop. Neither of the combatants could get the advantage. The stalemate went on, like two warriors looked in eternal struggle lit only by a clouded moon, and the sparks of clashing blades. They fought into the night.

The first person back to the Dojo was Alec, the runner from the night before. Alec walked through the door and saw two figures sprawled out across the floor of the sparing area, as he walked closer he saw that there were weapons, or rather parts of weapons, on the floor around the two figures. As the trainee walked closer, cautiously, he noticed that one of the figures was his master and the other was the woman form the night before, he saw that she was armed, a Tanto across the small of her back.

"What the…" Alec whispered as he looked closer, he looked closer, he could see a strange mechanism on the hilt and a phoenix inlaid into the grip. Alec felt very nervous "it can't be, it can't be." He kept repeating, the Phoenix was a mystery, nobody knew her real name, though everybody knew the stories, she had never failed a hit and all they ever found was ash. Alec edged nervously over to Jasper being very careful to avoid waking the woman; he gingerly shook his master awake. Jasper got up with a jolt and nearly head butted Alec in the jaw.

"What is it lad?" Jasper asked, blinking and looking around the room.

"Its morning, you have to see Lord Aro." Alec replied quietly. Jasper nodded and pulled himself over to sit next to the prone Alice, he gently shook her and before he could blink the Phoenix blade was at his throat, when she saw who it was, she smiled and sheathed her blade.

"Let's call it a draw." She said and they both laughed. Alec sat watching the exchange, normally students never even saw the elite, but here he was, not only could he see an elite, it was the top assassin of Volturi and she was _laughing._

"Excuse me, miss?" Alec said nervously.

"Yeah." Alice stopped laughing and smiled at the boy.

"I… well I was wondering…"

"You can talk you know, I won't kill you."

"I just thought… well I thought a legendary assassin would be more, you know, formal." Alice started to laugh again.

"I'm no legendary assassin boy." Alec looked questioningly at Alice.

"You are the one they call the Phoenix aren't you?"

"Yes." Alice said, slowly.

"Then you are. Your reputation precedes you."

"Oh, well…" Alice trailed off.

"Can I ask you your name?" Alex asked cautiously.

"You'll be wanting to take me out to dinner next." Alice said and Alec's face lit up.

"Can I!?" Jasper winced at the boy's confidence, Alice looked the boy in the eyes with a 'don't push it' look and he looked at the floor, ashamed at his remark.

"Oh come on, I'm only kidding with you," Alice said as she rose "Maybe we'll take you out somewhere with us sometime. Name's Alice by the way," Jasper rose as well and kicked the pieces of the weapons to one side. The rest of the students were arriving now "We've got to go now, see you around Alec."

"Yeah see you around." Alec said as Alice started to walk off with Jasper, Alice winked at a group of students huddled by the door as she passed.

"Who was that you were talking to Alec?" another student asked Alec, who was still looking at the door and smiling.

"That. That was the Phoenix."

Emmett was flailing around on the floor of his room after being kicked out of bed; he finally calmed down and looked up to see Jasper staring down at him.

"Hi. Having fun down there?" Jasper smiled.

"How the blood hell did you get in here!" Emmett exclaimed; just as Alice walked in with a bowl full of rice.

"Is this all you've got?" She said gesturing towards to food she was eating.

"Oh, of course, it figures. Oh and by the way, help yourself to the contents of my kitchen Alice." Emmett said, and lay back down.

"Oh thanks Emmett, will do." Alice replied with a smile.

"Are you going to get up then, or do we have to tell Lord Aro you're too lazy to see him?" Jasper said as he sat down on the sofa.

"What happened with the rooms Emmett, did you draw straws?" Alice asked through a mouthful of rice, Emmett rolled over and glowered at her "We'll you know, I've got cupboards larger than this." He looked at Jasper pleadingly, but Jasper just shrugged.

"She does have a point." He smiled. Emmett's room was only half the size of all the others because it was at the end of the hall and there was no more room to build out. The room had a wooden outer wall with a braced wooden door, it had the traditional Japanese paper walls inside creating smaller rooms, a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and a small prayer room. The room had minimal furniture, in fact the only things in the room were a small table, a very small bed, a sofa and several cushions, even with so little in the room it was hard to move around.

"Alright. I'm getting up." they all looked at each other for a minute. "Will you sod off while I get dressed." Emmett demanded.

"Aw, I was looking forward to that." Alice sighed as she left with Jasper.

"Don't start." Jasper said when they had left.

"Oh don't be stupid. You know it's you I want." Alice laughed.

"And you tell me not to be stupid?" Jasper shook his head, Alice walked into the kitchen to get rid of the empty bowl, Jasper watched her leave.

"Jasper!" she shouted as if sensing him looking at her, When Alice returned Emmett was already standing with Jasper.

"Let's go then, shall we?" Jasper gestured down the hallway as he started walking towards the throne room, Alice and Emmett falling on either side of him

As they approached the first set of doors to the throne room the guard opened them, as with the living quarters it was only the outer door that was braced, inside it was all traditional Japanese. Through the large wooden doors was a long room with banners and embroidered silks covering the side walls, sitting on cushions at the sides of the room was Aro's twelve council members who bowed respectfully as the trio passed. At the end of the room were the doors to the throne room which were slid open by two kneeling samurai revealing an elaborately decorated room. The throne was set on a raised dais with a small table in front of it, there was a map of the world spread over the table, the throne was occupied by a very powerful looking man in his early sixties, his armour and weapons were on stands by his side. Sitting on the inside of the door was a Geisha, Aro's concubine, and trained assassin. Aro's advisor was sitting with his back to the wall; he had his eyes closed and was probably thinking through a problem. The trio stood in the middle of the room facing Aro and bowed respectfully, the advisor opened his eyes at the movement.

"Jasper. Always a pleasure." The advisor said, nodding slowly.

"Master Caius." Jasper nodded back.

"Thank you for coming, my loyal bodyguards," Aro spoke slowly, his voice carrying a lot of power and authority "I hear your job in China went well."

"It did Lord," confirmed Jasper "but you didn't summon us for congratulations, did you?"

"Indeed not," Aro lowered his gaze "there is a problem with the Denali Clan. Lately they have been beaten in every encounter with Alliance forces and, naturally, we are all concerned."

"What do you think it could be?" Emmett asked.

"We don't know. That's the problem." Caius answered.

"That is where you com in," Aro began "the shogun himself has assigned you to get to the root of the problem."

"Why us?" Emmett added "Why not assign some of Denali's men?"

"Because it could be treachery and if that is the case then an investigation by the Denali would be totally useless." Alice spoke for first time.

"That's the idea." Confirmed Caius.

"Ok, so what are the details?" Jasper asked.

"You get full access to all of the resources you need to conduct a full investigation. However you are still under my command if I need you. So unless I call you back, it's your show." Aro said.

"Thank you Lord. We will not fail you." Jasper said, bowing.

"I know you will not." Aro smiled. The trio bowed and left the throne room.

"Where to now?" Emmett asked as they entered the hallway.

"Now, we plan." Alice said as she unlocked her door, Jasper went into his room, which was next doo to Alice's, followed by Emmett. Jasper's room was bigger than Emmett's, there was a table and several chairs in the middle of the room and behind that, a sliding door leading to a balcony; his bed was in a separate room and there was a rack of swords on the wall of an ornate, locked, cabinet. Jasper walked out onto the balcony overlooking the city while Emmett sat at the table and put his feet up.

"So, what do you think?" Emmett asked, leaning back in his chair.

"I think that you should stop breaking my furniture." Jasper replied, without turning and Emmett swung the chair back down with a crack.

"Right, so what do you think about the Denali thing?" Emmett asked again. A divider opened up in the wall and Alice walked in.

"I think we should get more info on the losses," Alice said without hesitation "We should go and see the shogun for an overview, then we should visit Mutsu to get details from Eleazar himself." She sat at the end of the table.

"Hello would have done." Emmett said sarcastically, Jasper walked back inside.

"She's right, the information we have is very vague." Jasper explained, sitting down.

"Right then, you two get to work on a plan and I'll scare us up some transport." Emmett said, rising.

"Take your battle armour." Jasper told him.

"Will do." Emmett's eyes lit up at the prospect of battle.

"So then, specifics." Alice said, putting her feet up and leaning back on her chair.

"Well we need to see the Shogun for the big picture of all the clan's success in battle. We should also speak with Denali Eleazar himself as well, to get the details, personnel whereabouts and stuff." Jasper explained.

"We should also observe a battle to get our own perspective."

"That's what I thought," Jasper replied, getting up "But tonight I think we need a bit of R and R." He looked at Alice and smiled "My choice of bed last night wasn't exactly brilliant."

"We'll go tomorrow morning then." Alice smiled and walked into her own room. "See you Jasper." She said as she slid the divider closed.

The sound of intensive training was coming from Jasper's Dojo as he walked up with Alice. As he opened the door he saw that Emmett was training them in the use of double swords, he looked over and saw Jasper come in with Alice, they were wet, Emmett walked over as they were drying off.

"Raining?" he asked sarcastically.

"Really! I never noticed!" Alice replied.

"What did you get us for transport?" Jasper asked.

"I got the plane and crew from yesterday plus transport for horses and bikes."

"Very good. Tonight we rest and we go out tomorrow morning." Jasper said as he walked out in front of his recruits "Alec!" the boy stopped training and looked at Kasper "You've got somebody who wants to see you." Jasper said as he gestured towards Alice, everybody stopped training and Alec walked towards Alice, several of the recruits cheered and there were a few wolf whistles,

"How much did you pay for her?" the comment came from Alec's right and was followed by a snigger, Alec turned to answer back but at that moment Jasper threw a hard punch into the man's jaw.

"Don't ever say anything like that. About her. Again." Jasper whispered, his voice straining with authority and anger, at the whimpering man who was sprawled all over the floor.

"He broke my jaw." The man complained.

"Emmett, take this piece of shit out of my Dojo and get him looked at by the first drunk, short-sighted or insane doctor you can find.

"Yes Jasper." Emmett replied as he approached the sobbing man "Get your arse up now!" Emmett ordered, kicking the man to his feet and escorted him out.

"Right, everybody carry on!" Jasper shouted as he turned to Alec "Do you know him?"

"He's anew one, come in while you were out acting like he ran the place, but no, I don't really know him, master." Alec replied, Jasper smiled.

"Ok Alec. You can call me Jasper, you call the master assassin by her name, so why not me." Jasper said with a laugh." Now Alice wants to see you, go lad."

"Thank you… Jasper" Alec laughed as he ran off towards Alice.

Alice was stood by the door waiting when Alec reached her.

"Sorry about that Alice." Alec apologised.

"Don't be, it wasn't your fault. Maybe next time you could tell him who I am." Alice smiled and laughed.

"What was it you wanted?" Alec asked.

"Well, you know I said we would take you out sometime." Alice began as the recruit's face lit up "I'm free tonight because I've been out non-stop for months and I'm off again in the morning, so."

"So, what?"

"So, where do you want to go?"

"But Jasper…."

"Oh sod Jasper," Jasper heard the comment and shot Alice a quizzical look; Alice just waved at him "Well, actually, Jasper said you could go."

"He did!?" Alex sounded surprised.

"Oh, of course, it's me, how could he resist?" Alice said mockingly.

"Well in that case, I don't care where we go."

"Why don't we go into town rather than staying in that castle, you know, like a small restaurant or something?"

"You're the boss" Alex said, raising his hands and Alice laughed.

"Hey Jasper. We're going." Alice shouted across the room, Jasper looked up from what he was doing.

"Have fun, and don't get into too much trouble." He shouted back to Alice and winked at her. Alice left with Alec, the wind blowing rain through the door as they opened it.

"Why does he get the night off and everyone else has to stay in?" The recruit was only new, and was probably the youngest there.

"Alec gets to go out because he is about to leave the Dojo and is one of the most promising recruits I have ever seen, and it also helps that he's befriended the master assassin." Jasper explained to the young recruit getting up and looking around "Right! Listen up everybody, all older recruits practise sparring, all new students, ethics lesson in the back room!" he shouted.


	4. Mysterious Continued Circumstances

Chapter Three: Mysterious Circumstances.

The street looked homely in a way, the rain had stopped and left the path damp and shiny like obsidian. The buildings were packed together and quite close to the narrow road. Alice and Alec had been walking for about ten minutes through the streets looking for a place to stop and have a drink.

"Amazing how you can never find somewhere when you really want to isn't it?" Alec said, to break the silence.

"Yeah," replied Alice, distractedly. "So. When do you finish your training?"

"Could be tomorrow. Who knows? But soon, I hope." A man stepped out in front of them from an alley and they stopped.

"You two. In the alley now." The man was quite tall, thin and he looked rough. Alice sighed and rolled her eyes as she stepped into the alley and leant against a wall, Alec followed and stood close by, he kept looking at Alice for assurance.

"What do you want?" Alice asked calmly.

"Me and the boys here," the man began as seven other men stepped out of the shadows. "We want all your money. And we want you."

Alec went to jump at the man who had spoken but Alice stopped him with her arm.

"Really? And you think we'll actually stand here and let you take all our money and do lord-knows-what with me?" Alice laughed. The man drew a small knife and showed it to Alice.

"Yes, actually, we do." He said and Alice stopped laughing, looked the man in the eyes, in one swift movement she took the knife from him and slammed it into his groin.

"I think the words you're looking for are 'I'm sorry miss, please allow us to die in a gutter somewhere' even thou that would be a bit steep." Alice added as she pushed the whining man over "Well at least you get to bleed in a gutter."

"She stabbed him!" shouted one of the gawping men.

"Get Her!" Ordered another man. Alec stepped up to Alice's side. As they met the men, punches started to fly, Alec knocked one man down with a solid punch to the chest and then tripped another before bringing his foot down hard on the fallen man's chest. Although Alec's attacks were strong and accurate, the men just got back up afterwards. Alice was using her full knowledge to her advantage. She chopped one man in the throat and as he knelt, breathless, she threw a quick sidekick that broke the man's neck, another man rushed her head on and she thrust her palm into his chest, he dropped, his heart stopped. One of Alec's victims got back up in between the two and they both kicked him on either side of his head, he fell crumpled on the floor. Two men ran at Alice, she kicked the first man in the stomach then vaulted off him as he doubled over and landed on the other man's shoulders, she broke his neck with her knees and jumped on the first man's neck as the second fell on top of him. Alec screamed as he put all his effort into a massive punch into the last combatant's chest, his ribs cracked loudly and he coughed up blood before he fell to the floor and died. There was one last man standing at the back who turned and ran, scared.

"Hey! You forgot you knife!" Alice shouted after him as she picked the knife out of the dying man's body and threw it down the alley, it hit the running man between the shoulder blades and he fell with a yelp. The gang leader in the gutter groaned "You still not dead." Remarked Alice, looking down at him.

"That looks nasty." Added Alec, the man spat at Alec. Alice brought her foot down on his windpipe, crushing it. The pair left the alley and carried on walking down the road, leaving the suffocating man in the gutter.

Alice was sat with Alec in a small, quiet bar a good ten minutes away form the alley.

"You lead a very exciting life." Alec remarked, swirling his brandy around the glass.

"You get used to it." Alice said and sipped her win, red, like blood. "You warmed up to me soon enough."

"How so?" Alec looked at Alice, confused.

"Well, this morning, you would hardly look at me, and now…you're swirling brandy."

"I suppose." Alec shrugged.

"I thought I was supposed to be the mysterious one, I'm the assassin."

"How do you know I'm not going to be an assassin?" Alice sipped her wine while she thought.

"Not with that lack of restraint. You're a horseman, heavy horse. The pride of Volturi." Alice finally said.

"Yeah, I suppose so." Alec shrugged and downed his drink.

Alice heard a bike pull up outside the bar and the rattle of armour as the rider dismounted, the door swung open and the footsteps came closer. Without turning Alice said. "Hello Emmett." The footsteps faltered as if surprised. "Yes, definitely Emmett."

"How did you know that?" Alec asked.

"Well, first off, only Emmett walks louder when he's trying to be quiet than he does normally, and only Emmett would be surprised that I knew it was him." Alice turned "Aren't you Emmett?"

"Can't a guy have a drink without being insulted now." Emmett replied as he sat down at the table "You always have to sit in the corner, don't you?"

"How'd you find us?" Alec asked, Emmett turned to Alec. Cutting Alice out of the conversation.

"Well I knew you were going for a drink. So I figure I would join you, only by the time I got back from to doc's you'd already gone. Now, I know her, see." Emmett said, gesturing towards Alice. "It took me a while but I eventually found it. The guy lying halfway across the pavement, bleeding from his arse."

"Groin." Alice corrected, helpfully.

"I don't know want to know. Anyway I figured it was something to do with you guys so I just checked nearby bars, and here I am." Emmett turned back round to find Alice glaring at him, that look was sharper than her daggers, Emmett shuddered. Alice started to laugh and put her head in her arms on the table.

"You nasty…" Emmett started, and slumped back in his chair.

"It is getting quite late, we should go back." Alec said.

"Ok. We'll go then." Alice stopped laughing and finished her drink.

"I'll ride slow for you." Emmett offered as he got on his bike.

"No. You go on ahead, we'll walk alone." Alice replied as she walked past Emmett.

"You keep an eye on her." Emmett whispered to Alec when Alice had walked out of earshot.

"I'll try." Shrugged Alec, and ran to catch up to the assassin. Emmett watched them walk for a minute before putting on his helmet and speeding off up the road towards the castle.

"Before you leave for the night, let me tell you something." Jasper was stood in front of his students, they all fell silent as he began to talk "Earlier tonight, what happened was not acceptable, nor was it respectful. I hope that you will all turn out like Alec who, by the way, is out drinking at the moment rather than training because he has made such good progress. However if I get another incident like tonight, then it won't be me who deals with you. It will be the woman who was here," a smile spread across his face, "trust me, you don't want to piss her off." Jasper turned to face the wall. "You may go." Everyone in the room bowed and left.

Jasper was left alone in the building, thinking about what had happened. He stepped into his office and found a piece of paper on the table; he picked it up and read it 'Application for release of a recruit for full military service.' He read the name of the recruit to be released. It was Alec. Jasper was sad to be losing such a good recruit but he was also happy, he knew that Alec would go on to do great things. Jasper signed the document and left it on the table where it would be collected in the morning.

"Goodbye Alec, I hope we meet again." Jasper said as he left his Dojo to go home.

Jasper was lying awake in bed when he heard Alice come home next door. He put on a robe and waited a few minutes, so he didn't catch her at an awkward moment. Then he opened the dividing door and walked into Alice's room, it was completely dark except for a shaft of light coming from a square hole in the ceiling.

"Did you have a nice time?" Jasper asked, knowing full well Alice could hear him.

"Yes, we did." Came the reply.

"Any problems?" Jasper said as he sat on a chair in the middle of the room.

"Oh, we got mudded." Alice said, matter-of-factly.

"And?"

"And, they tried to rape e." the comment was just as frank as the last

"And… what happened?" Jasper probed. Alice's head swung down from the hole in the ceiling.

"What do you think?" she said with raised eyebrows.

"Well, what else am I going to ask you Alice? All we do together is kill people. Are we anymore than comrades?" Alice swung down from her bedroom, she was wearing a lightweight black nightdress with a white phoenix embroidered on the back.

"Of course we're more than comrades. We're friend, you and I. If you need any more convincing, you've seen me dressed like this and I haven't killed you." Alice said as she moved over to him and the both laughed.

"Thank you Alice, that is all I needed to hear." Jasper smiled and stood up.

"Good, we can't have the legendary dragon warrior worked up now, can we?" she was right in front of him, her big, almost black eyes staring right back at him.

"No," Jasper said, distractedly "we can't." je was captivated by her, he had never seen her like this before. Alice smiled back at him and walked away to sit down, Jasper shook his head and sat down.

"Denali castle, in the morning" Alice said, looking at Jasper across the table. "Can't wait, I love Denali"

"I gathered that much." Jasper smiled back "What time is it now?"

"One Am" Alice laughed.

"You've had a few haven't you?"

"That depends."

"on what?"

"On what you class as a few." Alice smiled "I've had a couple of glasses of wine. I'm not drunk, just. Just, happy. Happy and talkative." She fell asleep in the chair. Jasper got up and tried to wake her, but she was tired from fighting, and the wine hadn't helped much. He looked at the hole in the ceiling.

"I'm not going to get you up there." He whispered to himself, he took her in his arms and carried her into his own room, he lay her on the bed and looked at her for a minute, she looked so peaceful. Jasper smiled and, walking out into his main room, lay on the sofa and fell asleep.

Alice woke up and looked at the clock standing on the cabinet, seven o'clock, she sat on the edge of the bed and looked around the room slowly, only just realising.

"This isn't my room," she said, puzzled "this is Jasper room." She got up and silently moved over to the door, she slid it open a little and saw Jasper asleep on the sofa, Alice smiled and, sliding the door open fully, walked out into the main room. She walked up and stood next to the sleeping man, kneeling down she whispered in his ear "Jasper." And put her hand on his shoulder. He smiled and, still asleep, whispered back.

"Alice." He was about to say something else when there was a massive banging at the door.

"Jasper! Wake your arse up Jasper!" It was Emmett. Jasper woke up with a start and smiled when he saw Alice crouched next to him.

"Jasper!" Emmett wouldn't shut up, the both listened to a door open just up the corridor outside, they heard some shouting at Emmett.

"Will you shut up" Caius shouted "It's seven am!"

"You're making more noise than me." Emmett replied.

"Just shut up!" Caius shouted followed by a smack, a yelp and a door slamming.

Jasper got up and opened the door to find Emmett holding his stomach, one of Caius's boots were on the floor near by.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Emmett said as he stepped into the room, he stopped dead and quickly turn back to Jasper when he saw Alice. "I really do hope I'm not interrupting anything." One of Jasper's boots hit him square in the back; he yelped and turned to fin Alice gone and the divider closed.

"Good job you turned round." Jasper said as he walked past Emmett.

"Why? It would only have hit me in the chest." Emmett asked.

"It wouldn't have bee a boot." Jasper said as he sat down.

"Whatever." Emmett said to change the subject. "Are you getting ready, we're going to Denali castle and i don't think Eleazar will be impressed by the robe."

"Ok. Slow down, give me a minute." Jasper said as he got up and disappeared into his bedroom. Jasper re-emerged a minute later wearing black trousers and a white baggy shirt with the Volturi symbol on the back.

"Shall we go then?" Jasper said as he walked towards the door.

"What about Alice?" Emmett asked, following Jasper out of the door.

"Coming?" Jasper asked as they passed Alice's door, as if to nobody. Emmett wondered what he was talking about and was about to reply when Alice stepped out of her room, in her heeled black boots, black leather trousers and baggy black shirt, with the Volturi symbol in white on the back.

"Yes, I am." She said as she fell in beside Jasper. "Assassin. I need good hearing." Alice answered Emmett's unvoiced question.

"I had all of your stuff loaded onto the bird." Emmett explained to the others "You need to get your weapons though."

"Well, obviously." Alice replied.


End file.
